As a medicine packaging device that prints patient names and the dates for taking medicine, etc. on a continuous sheet for packaging, as well as package medicine such as tablets or powder medicine, etc. by one package by using the continuous sheet for packaging, a medicine dispensing apparatus disclosed in a publication of Japanese patent No. 4564437 is known.
In the medicine dispensing device, the continuous sheet for packaging for packaging medicine is supplied from a roll, the continuous sheet for packaging and an ink ribbon are overlapped with a position of a print head, and printing of a name of a patient, a dosage time, etc. is performed through the print head. In a state where an opening of the continuous sheet for packaging to which printing was performed as stated above is faced upward and the continuous sheet for packaging is folded in half, medicine such a tablet and powdered medicine is packaged by one package.
The ink ribbon comes in contact with the continuous sheet for packaging, and run along with the continuous sheet for packaging. The ink ribbon is separated from the continuous sheet for packaging after the printing by the printing head. When a slack occurs in the ink ribbon which is to be separated, the ink ribbon is separated vertically from the continuous sheet for packaging. Therefore, there is a possibility that printing failure may occur. For this reason, the ink ribbon is passed over a tension bar which is arranged in a running path of the ink ribbon so that the ink ribbon is separated obliquely from the continuous sheet for packaging, thereby preventing defective printing. The tension bar is rotatably provided as well as is biased towards one direction by a spring. When the ink ribbon is loosened on the running path, a biasing force of the spring rotates the tension bar to ensure constant tension. Then, when the tension bar is rotated to a predetermined position, a sensor detects this, and a motor for rotating a winding portion which winds the ink ribbon is activated to wind the ink ribbon. Once the ink ribbon is wound in this manner, the tension bar is pressed by the ink ribbon, and the tension bar rotates the opposite way against the biasing force of the spring.